Thomas Kinsella
Thomas Kinsella (born 4 May 1928) is an Irish poet, whose "sensitive lyrics deal with primal aspects of the human experience, often in a specifically Irish context."Thomas Kinsella, Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., Britannica.com, Web, May 18, 2012. Life Youth Kinsella was born in Inchicore, Dublin.Andrew Fitzsimons, The Sea of Disappointment: Thomas Kinsella's Pursuit of the Real (UCD Press, 2008), p. 15. He spent most of his childhood in the Kilmainham/Inchicore area of Dublin. He was educated at the Model School, Inchicore, where classes were taught through the medium of the Irish language, and at the O'Connell Schools in North Richmond Street, Dublin. His father and grandfather both worked in Guinness's Brewery.Fitzsimons, The Sea of Disappointment, p. 156. He entered University College Dublin in 1946, initially to study science. After a few terms in college, he took a post in the Irish civil service and continued his university studies at night, having switched to humanities and arts. Early career Kinsella's first poems were published in the University College Dublin magazine National Student. His first pamphlet, '' The Starlit Eye'' (1952), was published by Liam Miller's Dolmen Press, as was Poems (1956), his first book-length publication. These were followed by Another September (1958), Moralities (1960), Downstream (1962), Wormwood (1966), and the long poem Nightwalker (1967). Translations and editing At Miller's suggestion, Kinsella turned his attention to the translation of early Irish texts. He produced versions of '' Longes Mac Unsnig'' and The Breastplate of St Patrick in 1954 and of Thirty-Three Triads in 1955. His most significant work in this area was collected in two important volumes. The first of these was '' The Táin'', (Dolmen 1969 and Oxford 1970), a version of the Táin Bó Cúailnge illustrated by Louis le Brocquy. The second major work of translation was an anthology of Irish poetry An Duanaire: 1600-1900, Poems of the Dispossessed (1981), translated by Kinsella and edited by Seán Ó Tuama. He also edited Austin Clarke's Selected Poems and Collected Poems (both 1974) for Dolmen and The New Oxford Book of Irish Verse (1986). Later career In 1965, Kinsella left the civil service to become writer in residence at Southern Illinois University, and in 1970 he became a professor of English at Temple University. While at Temple, he developed a program for students to study in Ireland called "the Irish Experience". In 1972, he started Peppercanister Press to publish his own work. Kinsella's interest in the publishing process dates back at least as far as helping set the type for '' The Starlit Eye'' 20 years earlier. His Collected Poems appeared in 1996 and again in an updated edition in 2001. Writing Marked as it was by the influence of W.H. Auden and dealing with a primarily urban landscape and with questions of romantic love, Kinsella's early work marked him as distinct from the mainstream of Irish poetry in the 1950s and 1960s, which tended o be dominated by the example of Patrick Kavanagh. The first Peppercanister production was Butcher's Dozen, a satirical response to the Widgery Tribunal into the events of Bloody Sunday. This poem drew on the aisling tradition and specifically on Brian Merriman's Cúirt An Mheán Óiche. In the Peppercanister poems, Kinsella's work ceased to be Audenesque and became more clearly influenced by American modernism, particularly the poetry of Ezra Pound, William Carlos Williams and Robert Lowell. In addition, the poetry started to focus more on the individual psyche as seen through the work of Carl Jung. These tendencies first appeared in the poems of'' Notes from the Land of the Dead'' (1973) and One (1974). In the 1980s, books such as Her Vertical Smile (1985) Out of Ireland (1987) and St Catherine's Clock (1987) marked a move away from the personal to the historical. This continued into a sometimes darkly satirical focus on a contemporary landscape through the late 1980s and 1990s in such books as One Fond Embrace (1988), Personal Places (1990), Poems From Centre City (1990) and The Pen Shop (1996). Recognition Kinsella received the Honorary Freedom of the City of Dublin in May 2007. Publications Poetry *''The Starlit Eye''. Dublin: Dolmen, 1952. *''Three Legendary Sonnets''. Dublin: Dolmen, 1952. *''Poems''. Dublin: Dolmen, 1956. *''Another September''. Dublin: Dolmen / Chester Springs, PA: Dufour 1958 **revised edition, Dublin: Dolmen / Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1962. *''Moralities''. Dublin: Dolmen, 1960. *''Poems and Translations''. New York: Atheneum, 1961. *''Downstream''. Dublin: Dolmen / Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1962. *''Wormwood''. Dublin: Dolmen, 1966. *''The Death of a Queen''. Dublin: Dolmen, 1966. *''Nightwalker''. Dublin: Dolmen, 1967. *''Nightwalker, and other poems''. Dublin: Dolmen, 1968. * Poems (by Douglas Livingstone, Thomas Kinsella, & Anne Sexton). London & New York: Oxford University Press, 1968.Search results = au:Douglas Livingstone, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Nov. 15, 2014. *''Tear''. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1969. *''Notes from the Land of the Dead, and other poems''. Dublin: Cuala Press, 1972; New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1973. *''New Poems, 1973''. Dublin: Dolmen, 1973. *''Selected Poems, 1956-1968''. Dublin: Dolmen, 1973 **also published as Poems, 1956-1968. London & New York: Oxford University Press, 1974. *''Finistere''. Dublin: Dolmen, 1972. *''One, and other poems''. Dublin: Dolmen, 1979. *''Peppercanister Poems, 1972-1978''. Winston-Salem NC: Wake Forest University Press 1979, 1986. *''Poems, 1956-1973''. Dublin: Dolmen / Winston-Salem, NC: Wake Forest University Press, 1979. *''One Fond Embrace''. Dublin: Deerfield Press / Gallery Press, 1981. *''Blood and Family'' (4 Peppercanister pamphlets). Oxford, UK, & London: Oxford University Press, 1988. *''Collected Poems''. Oxford, UK:Oxford University Press, 1996. *''A Dublin Documentary''. Dublin: O’Brien Press, 2006. *''Selected Poems''. Manchester, UK: Carcanet, 2007. Peppercanister poetry pamphlets *''Butcher’s Dozen: A lesson for the octave of widgery'' 1. Dublin: Peppercanister, 1972; Dublin: Dedalus, 1992. *''A Selected Life'' 2. Dublin: Dolmen, 1972. *''Vertical Man: A sequel to A Selected Life'' 3. Dublin: Dolmen, 1973. *''The Good Fight: A poem for the tenth anniversary of the death of John F. Kennedy'' 4. Dublin: Dolmen, 1973. *''One'' 5. Dublin: Dolmen, 1974. *''A Technical Supplement'' 6. Dublin: Dolmen, 1976. *''Song of the Night and Other Poems'' 7. Dublin: Dolmen, 1978. *''The Messenger'' 8. Dublin: Dolmen, 1978. *''Songs of the Psyche'' 9. Dublin: Dolmen, 1985. *''Her Vertical Smile'' 10. Dublin: Peppercanister 1985. *''Out of Ireland: A metaphysical love sequence'' 11. Dublin: Peppercanister, 1987. *''St Catherine’s Clock'' 12. Dublin: Peppercanister 1987. *''One Fond Embrace'' 13. Dublin: Dedalus, 1988. *''Personal Places'' 14. Dublin: Dedalus, 1990. *''Poems from Centre City'' 15. Dublin: Peppercanister, 1991. *''Madonna, and other poems'' 16. Dublin: Peppercanister, 1991. *''Open Court'' 17, Dublin: Dedalus, 1991. *''The Pen Shop'' 19. Dublin: Dedalus / Manchester, UK: Carcanet, 1997. *''The Familiar'' 20. Dublin: Dedalus Press / Manchester, UK: Carcanet, 1999. *''Godhead'' 21. Dublin: Dedalus / Manchester, UK: Carcanet, 1999. *''Citizen of the World'' 22. Dublin: Dedalus / Manchester, UK: Carcanet, 2000. *''Littlebody'' 23. Dublin: Dedalus / Manchester, UK: Carcanet, 2000). *''Marginal Economy''. 24. Dublin: Dedalus / Manchester, UK: Carcanet, 2006. *''Man of War'' 26. Dublin: Dedalus, 2007. *''Belief and Unbelief'' 27. Dublin: Dedalus, 2007. Non-fiction *''The Dual Tradition: An essay on poetry and politics in Ireland'' No. 18. Manchester, UK: Carcanet 1995. *''Readings in Poetry'' 25. Dublin: Dedalus / Manchester, UK: Carcanet, 2006), 49pp. Translated * An Duanaire = Poems of the Dispossessed: An anthology of Gaelic poems (edited by Seán Ó Tuama). Portlaoise: Dolmen Press, 1981. *''The Sons of Usnech''. Dublin: Dolmen, 1954 **(illustrated by Bridget Swinton). Dublin: Dolmen, 1960. * The Táin, translated from the Irish epic Táin Bó Cúailnge (illustrated by Louis le Brocquy). Dublin: Dolmen, 1969; London & New York: Oxford University Press, 1970. Edited *''Dolmen Miscellany of Irish Writing'' (edited with John Montague). Dublin: Dolmen, 1962. *''The New Oxford Book of Irish Verse'' (with numerous of his own translations). London: Oxford University Press, 1986. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy Ricorso.net.Works, Thomas Kinsella, Ricorso.net. Web, Oct. 24, 2014. Audio / Video * Fair Eleanor, O Christ Thee Save. Claddagh Records, 1971. * Thomas Kinsella - Poems 1956-2006. Claddagh Records, 2007. See also * List of Irish poets References External links ;Poems *Thomas Kinsella at PoemHunter ("Mirror in February") *Thomas Kinsella 2 poems at the Academy of American Poets * Thomas Kinsella at Western Michigan University: "At the Western Ocean's Edge," "Scylla and Charybdis," "Chrysalides," "Mirror in February," "The Poet Egan O'Rahilly, Homesick in Old Age" ;Audio / video *Thomas Kinsella at YouTube ;About *Thomas Kinsella in the Encyclopædia Britannica *Profileat Carcanet Press *Thomas Kinsella at Dedalus Press *Thomas Kinsella at Irish Culture and Customs. *Thomas Kinsella's Page at Wake Forest University Press *Thomas Kinsella at Ricorso.net *Thomas Kinsella at eNotes *'The Freedom of the City', review of Selected Poems in the Oxonian Review * "Mirror in February" explication at Skool.ie. Category:Gaelic poets Category:Irish Gaelic poets Category:1928 births Category:Living people Category:Irish poets Category:Irish modernist poets Category:Irish civil servants Category:People from County Dublin Category:Táin Bó Cúailnge Category:Guggenheim Fellows Category:Translators from Old Irish Category:Translators from Irish Category:Translators of the Táin Bó Cúailnge Category:20th-century poets Category:English-language poets Category:Poets Category:Translators to English